The 2006 agreement for developing the controversial F-35 stealth fighter jets contains a withdrawal clause that would allow a new government to end Canada's participation with no penalties and appears to contradict the government's claim that Canadian firms involved up to now would suffer. The clause, combined with other clauses and timetables in the memorandum of understanding gives Canada the opportunity to withdraw at any time before it signs its first procurement contract in 2014 ...The agreement's language seems to contradict Industry Minister Tony Clement's (Parry Sound-Muskoka, Ont.) suggestion last week that the Liberal party risks hundreds of millions of dollars in lawsuits, as well as lost jobs in Canada's aerospace industry, if it carries out a promise that a Liberal government might withdraw from the agreement and open up a competition to replace Canada's aging fleet of CF-18 fighter jets.